As a therapist who has worked extensively in the fields of both domestic violence and sexual offenses, I am amazed at the parallel dysfunction we are witnessing at the highest level of government. Both types of criminal behavior are based on an abuse of power, and family members are easily bamboozled into keeping quiet, "keeping the lights off," due to having been brainwashed that the offender is really "a good guy." The abuser's denial spreads to the family, who then unknowingly become enablers, and even cheerleaders for further crimes.

Our country and our constitution are being raped and pillaged by the powerful, and the MSM have been there all along, cheering them on. What a disgraceful turnaround for the WaPo of my youth, that insisted on overturning every rock and turning on every light to expose the abuses of power of the Nixon Administration.

Thank you Glenn, for not only flipping on the switch, but for blaring spotlights on this despicable and degrading group of abusers and enablers.

Kitt,

You're absolutely right that:

it (sic) you were to watch a film of a train wreck (slowed way down so you could closely observe the unfolding in detail upon detail) you would see that there is a pattern that takes place.

The distinction I was implying was that between structure (how something is put together, how it is structured) and pattern (a more generalized term, as in crash pattern).

Still, there is even a further state, in which the patterns interfere with one another to create a state in which the patterns are no longer discernable at all. Such cases can still be described in terms of jumbled patterns, but an almost infinite number of different combinations are all equally good (or bad) fits, and thus none of them has any real claim at providing any insight.

This is the end state of total entropy toward which our current political system aspires on the "liberal" side represented by Lights Out. It is only on the Rovian side of things that the lies are careful put together like model airplanes, so that everything fits just so.

As Sen. Bullworth put it (Bullworth, 1998)

"[W]hite people got more in common with colored people than they do with rich people"

Indeed. Rich neocon Libby and rich "liberal" Cohen have much more in common with each other than they do with you and me. The law is not for them or their exhalted class. It is for the rest of us meth-using, bankrupcy law abusing unwashed masses. The sooner we understand this, the better of we will be.

swallowed, *by* a criminal hemmed in by police...

If you don't stop this instant, Mr. Oldsmobile, I may die of cynical cackling before I've had my second cup of coffee. You remind me why I love New York, and New Yorkers. Long may you wave....

...that he thinks sex is better with the lights off.

Ah, how times have changed.

It wasn't so long ago that the Republican Slime Machine went after anyone (read: any Democrat who dared get in their way, as they resolutely try to rip up the Constitution.

Alger Hiss was convicted -- after a hung jury, on very suspicious evidence -- of Perjury with no conviction on an underlying crime. Libby was convicted of Perjury and Obstruction of Justice in an ongoing set of investigations. The White House deliberately outed a CIA agent trying to find information about terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons. If they get one, Scooter and Karl and Dick and W bear much responsibility.

If Richard Cohen were to have any integrity or consistency, he would be arguing just as hard to exonerate Alger Hiss as he is whining about I Lewis "Scooter" Libby. But the conservative news media has neither integrity nor consistency, preferring to let James Gannon do the leg work while they sit back, forget history and just completely make stuff up.

Those who have a third module, one that can integrate irony and outrage into a single, as-yet-unnamed state will have a definite survival advantage

Actually, I mastered that module, oh, about 35 years ago.

Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow and Michael Fagen's "I.G.Y." were of considerable assistance.

A Hundred Years of Solitude also helped.

Certified – Check your snark meter. :-)It may need some adjusting. :-)

I think his post can be rephrased this way: “If Joe Wilson hadn’t been a true patriot, Libby wouldn’t have had to lie to cover up the traitors in the malAdministration.”

Paul R – “Those who have a third module, one that can integrate irony and outrage into a single, as-yet-unnamed state will have a definite survival advantage--as their heads will not explode…”

That state has a name – it is called numbness. One can act while numb, but it isn’t much fun.

Others with better brains (I present - GG) have a different state - feverished truth-seeking/telling. This state goads them into wading chest-deep in this filth. They analyze the feces to show the world the contents. They carefully reconstruct the truth that was swallowed, like a criminal being hemmed in by the police, in a desperate attempt to hide the evidence.

Democritus:

An Appropriate Nickname...

Richard "Lights Off" Cohen?

I think we can safely dispense with the "Richard" and "Cohen" parts entirely. "Lights Off" will do just fine.

Print edition, that is. If you read him online, it's best to switch the monitor off.

Tonight, as every night, Richard will anticipate with pleasure the moment Mrs. Cohen turns the lights off. Then, as usual, she will slip a nanny goat into the bed while she goes out to enjoy sexual relations with an actual liberal. Not only is her husband on to the ruse, he actually prefers it that way.

If concentration camp capos like Cohen and Klein can call themselves liberals, I'd like to start calling myself an Oldsmobile. Or call my taxes paid in perpetuity. It's the new reality.

Trainwrecks don't have structure.

That's probably not true. I'll bet that it you were to watch a film of a train wreck (slowed way down so you could closely observe the unfolding in detail upon detail) you would see that there is a pattern that takes place. Action/reaction/action/reaction.